Prevention of Worsening of Drug Abuse in Soldiers

Background: Military service is one of the stressful life periods for young men in Iran, and because of these multiple stressors, soldiers’ drug abuse status can be exacerbated during this period. Identifying the predictors of worsening drug abuse can help us to control addiction in young soldiers. Objectives: To examine the military service predictors resulting in worsening drug abuse status. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study with 3140 young soldiers was conducted in summer and autumn of 2010 and; the participants completed three questionnaires, namely the Texas Christian University Drug Screen (TCUDS) II, The Addiction Severity Index and a questionnaire designed by the researchers. We analyzed the data using ordinal logistic regression. The dependent variable was changing the drug abuse status, scored from 1 to 4 according to the state of deterioration of soldiers’ drug abuse. Results: The study included 3,140 soldiers with a mean age of 22.1 year. The predominant level of education among the soldiers was a diploma (72.6%), and 87.7% of the soldiers were single. In the model, the four predictors that affected drug abuse status deterioration were as follows: level of satisfaction with service location (odds ratio [OR] = 0.83, P = 0.040), relationship with commander (OR = 0.79, P = 0.001), relationships with other soldiers (OR = 0.71, P = 0.031), and the time of additional service (OR = 1.15, P = 0.002). Conclusions: To prevent worsening drug abuse status among soldiers, it is necessary to decrease the time of additional service, increase the quality of the commander’s relationship with soldiers, and elicit soldiers’ help to assist decision makers in controlling the deterioration of soldiers’ drug abuse during military service.